Zutara Drabbles 101
by eechan
Summary: Z/K: A collection of 100 drabbles, one-shots, and short stories in response to the Zutara100 Lj community challenge. READ: ZUTARA. Flames will be redirected. Helpful critiques welcome. Be mindful of spoilers! Rated M for later chapters.
1. 66: Touch

**Author:** koree/eechan**  
Prompt:** #66 - Touch**  
Title:** Touch**  
Word Count:** 580 - Roughly, before edits.**  
Rating:** M/PG-13**  
Summary:** Zuko ponders over his strange reaction to one of Katara's innocent touches. Wonderment slowly leads to frustration, and it's all Katara's fault!  
**  
Author's Notes:** Don't mind the lack of creative title, ; simple just seemed to fit. Here we go... It's been a really long time since I tackled any solo-writing, so I apologize for any offense on your poor brains or eyes: The gears are a bit rusty still. Rated M just to be safe, for slightly coarse language.

Follows "Southern Raiders" episode, be mindful of spoilers.

--

An hour and a half later and he still felt the need to check the spot again, fingers deftly pushing back the fabric of his tunic a little to reveal a sliver more of his arm, still half expecting to find a tell-tale patch of slightly reddened skin where her fingers and palm had made contact. Though aware that he would likely draw unwanted attention to himself if he kept it up (Aang had already asked him twice if he was okay. A gruff and curt "I'mfine." had been the monk's answer and enough to send him on his way again. Who really fully understood Zuko and his moods? Aang was brave, but not brave enough to risk incurring Zuko's wrath again.) it wasn't enough to stop Zuko's curiosity and otherwise inexplicable need to affirm that the spot was normal, normal was good. Normal meant he could convince himself he'd just imagined the reaction he felt, despite the little spark he'd felt from their contact.

He took in a glimpse of the area as casually as possible.

There. His skin was just as pale as it always was (at least compared to the water tribe duo).

It wasn't even the spot that had gotten hurt, that would be his OTHER arm, and it had only been a welt from one of her water whips (She'd insisted on healing it anyway, and apologized. _Katara_... Apologizing. To _HIM_. Even if he did just help her find some closure over her mother's killer, that was something he never expected to live to hear coming directly from Katara.). That sting, minor to him as it had been, was long gone. It was the other arm, the arm he now kept checking and rubbing every so often, that she'd touched so casually before parting that afterwards felt so unusually warm.

What baffled Zuko even more than the strange sensation and its random and sudden occurance was the fact that she seemed completely oblivious to the effect she had on him! He'd been certain she'd have noticed the frozen reaction, but she only smiled before leaving him where he was to join Aang and Toph for the young avatar's training, leaving Zuko to stare after her quietly.

How could such a simple touch cause such a response? Mai's didn't, and the last time Katara had touched him like that it hadn't caused a reaction that strongly, down in the catacombs of Old Ba Sing Sei. Why now? Would every touch they shared from now on feel different? He found himself curious enough to want to find out, and he was especially curious as to if her lips were as warm as her hands (and warmer than Mai's). What would it feel like to touch her that way? (So far, Katara had been the only one to initiate such contact between the two of them.) Would she react the same, would he still feel the same heat even if it was he that initiated the contact?

What was WRONG with him?!

If anyone had been alarmed by Zuko's sudden standing, announced by his equally sudden growl and punctuated by his equally sudden storming away toward the opposite direction of Katara, they didn't show it with anything more than confused glances. By Agni, damn her! It hardly seemed just that he was left to sit there feeling as if he might lose his mind while she was blissfully ignorant. Damn her, for making him wonder why and how and when things had changed so much between them, and damn her for stoking his curiosity! What was the big deal anyway?! It was just one stupid touch!

--

**A/N:** I might likely come back and tweak this later for flow, but for now, here it is as is. This is my first response to the Zutara100 community challenge, prompt 66, as the opening notes state, "Touch". I wanted to do a sort of introverted/inward reflection piece from a third person's point of view, if that makes sense. Hopefully this didn't come off too weird or awkward. Constructive critiques and snippets of advice are welcome! (See my profile for my email address.)


	2. 39: Lies

**Author:** koree/eechan**  
Prompt:** #19 - Lies**  
Title:** It's not weather you win or lose...**  
Word Count:** 806**  
Rating:** T**  
Summary:** Zuko's curiosity has finally gotten the best of him, and Katara has taken notice! Katara doesn't seem too thrilled with becoming a guinea pig in his experiments, though. Find out what happens!

**Author's Notes:** Not much to say here, but I had fun writing this one. g Competitive Zuko and Katara are totally for the win. This is a direct follow up to #66 ("Touch"), and follows that timeline. The POV's do get a little bit shaken up in the middle, I apologize if it's confusing at all, but this basically follows Katara's point of view this time around.

--

They came so easily now, the little white lies that she'd begun to tell. It all started the first time she realized that long after he'd let her go and walked away she could still feel the heat of his fingers wrapped around her wrist. She'd lied and said she was perfectly fine when Sokka asked why her face was so red. It was innocent enough at the time, but it was just the first of many.

Since that first instance it seemed like he found any excuse that he could to touch her, or was that her imagination? He always played it off so casually afterwards, but during the time when his skin would brush hers, or he'd lean in close, or his breath would touch her ear, well, Katara would iswear/i that he was doing it on purpose, and what was more, getting a kick out of it in the process. If that little smirk he wore now and again when he caught her blushing wasn't an indication she didn't know what was. It was becoming harder and harder to hide her frustrated and flustered state, and worse to find excuses for it. She'd become quite the expert on white lies, if you asked her.

It came as no surprise to either of them that after a while her stubborn nature and outright refusal to allow him to keep such control over her emotions got the best of her. She began to return the favor in retaliation.

When passing out bowls or plates for their meals, somehow she managed to discreetly brush her fingers against his whenever he took his plate. If he wasn't moving fast enough for her liking she took it as an excuse, opening, and invitation to snag his hand in hers and drag him off at a pace that ishe/i deemed suitable. When Zuko was the one to forage for fruit to make up their breakfasts, once he was sitting or stooping down Katara's hair would always whisper across his cheek as she leaned in from behind to take her share from the sack, it didn't matter which side of his face it was, it always left that same fluttering sensation in his stomach and the very first time she did it he even had a stupefied stare on his face for a moment. He had been particularly irked by the smugness emanating from her eyes when she looked at him to say "thanks" for the contribution.

It seemed that she had noticed his game, and risen to the challenge.

The very next day, following Katara's deviously executed payback he caught her just in time to keep her from stepping on a two headed rat-viper. Even after it had been dispatched with one of his twin swords his other arm remained around her waist for a few seconds before he finally let her go. When called out on it, a shrug and a claim of-- "I really didn't notice." --followed by the challenge-- "Why?" --was her only answer.

There was another lie. "No reason." She had grudgingly responded. Their little game of "Embarrass the other", while still playful in it's own sardonic way, was no longer just a game. Now it was war.

It went on for three days. Three days of discreet (and not quite so discreet) collisions and the casual touch here and there. Katara finally realized that it was going too far when she became aware of Toph's raised eyebrow (Even though the girl couldn't see others faces she was surprisingly sufficient with making her own fitting facial expressions.) and a hurt look from Aang (she suspected he might be feeling a little jealous, and immediately she chided herself for being inconsiderate to his feelings, even if it had all been meant innocently enough.). What were they doing? Aang had feelings for her, Zuko had a girlfriend! Had they REALLY just spent the last week subtly (and NOT so subtly) flirting with each other?

If Katara noticed Zuko's confusion when she no longer played into what had become a game of theirs, she ignored it. He seemed to take that as an unspoken cue, and things seemed to go back to normal, except that now she found herself telling little fibs to cover up her guilt ridden mood, her inattentiveness, and NO, she was NOT staring at Zuko just now, thank you very much SOKKA.

In short, she was pretty sure that even Sokka could tell that she was near miserable. She continued to deny it anyway, all of it. Such was the nature of lies. Even if they seemed innocent they all ended the same if invited in for too long. Katara knew one thing for certain. When all of this was said and done it was a strict policy of honesty for her from then on.

--

**A/N:** Okay, yes, I realize that ended a little bit abruptly, and depressing, and Zuko's feelings aren't expressed at the end of this, but there's a reason. Yep, there will be a part 3 to this set, and quite possibly a part 4. I have a specific idea in mind for the next two themes I want to use, but you'll just have to wait and see to find out what! ;)

Reviews, as always, are greatly appreciated!


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